Melanesian Journal of Theology 5-2 (1989)

Some Biblical Perspectives on Justice and Peace Address to the Melanesian Council of Churches, Annual General Assembly, February 20, 1989. Theo Aerts “Justice and peace have embraced”, not only according to the Psalmist (85:10), but in many other ways as well, so much so, that the well-known Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible lacks a particular article under “justice”, but refers instead to what it will say about “Peace in the OT”. Hence, one might say that, for some recent scholars, the two concepts are interchangeable, or, at least, very much intertwined. On another practical level, justice and peace like each other’s company, such as, for example, in the PNG “Commission for Justice, Peace, and Development,” or in the WCC “Programme for Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation”. In both these instances, the first two concepts seem to be joined, as the basis for something to be realised further ahead, or maybe as something, which needs some further addition, in order to give edge to the preceding realities, which have been overused in the past. Surely, justice and peace are basic biblical themes. But, even without going into their statistics here, it would be impossible to outline even the most important passages concerned. Still, I do feel that it is useful to first make some general linguistic observations. It appears that, since the KJV, and its immediate predecessors, the two terms: “justice” and “peace”, have obtained an inalienable place in the English Bible. They are, therefore, the regular equivalents for the Hebrew hqAdAc; (tsedāqāh) and mlowA (shālōm), and for the Greek dikaiosu